CRIME: The Real McCoy

The best-known, high-altitude, highwayman, was a calm character calling himself D.B. Cooper, who hijacked a Northwest Airlines 727 to Seattle last November, collected a $200,000 ransom and four parachutes, coolly bailed out as the plane flew on toward Reno, and was never caught. Immortalized in song and on sweatshirts, Cooper has inspired nearly half a dozen imitators, all of whom have failed. But a new spate of plane snatchings last week seemed to stem from the more recent exploits of Richard Floyd McCoy Jr., 29, who came the closest to succeeding since...